Two days after the battle…
"Big Brother Lux still hadn't woken up," Laura said as she looked at the sleeping Half-Elf that had over-exhausted himself during the last battle.
"It can't be helped," Grandma Annie said as she fed Eiko some candy. "If he didn't do what he did, perhaps everyone would have died back there."
Livia nodded her head in agreement as she fed the other two Baby Slimes, Cora and Nora, some candies that Grandma Annie had taken out of her storage ring.
Lux's party, as well as the residents of Abingdon Town, continued their journey towards Broughton Town.
Since they still hadn't arrived at their destination, the quest was still active, and Lux's Named Creatures were all guarding the evacuees, preventing anyone from being killed or kidnapped under their watch.
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< Remaining Number of Residents of Abingdon Town: 1,829 >
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Although many people had died, they had no choice but to move on for the sake of those that had perished two days ago.
Pietro, who kept everyone's spirits up during the long and arduous journey, hid the heartache he was feeling, and did his best to look calm and collected in front of his people.
He knew that everyone was trying to cope with the losses of their loved ones, whom they had given a proper burial when the battle ended.
Since no one wanted to bury the bodies of their dead in fear that the insects would just dig them up to eat them, they all decided to cremate them.
Pietro oversaw the farewell ceremony, giving closure to those who had died, and those that were still living.
Gerhart and Cethus had become relatively quiet during the past two days, as they continued with their duties of guarding the residents of Abingdon Town.
When they were forcefully taken out of the battlefield, the two were very tempted to help Lux, and the residents, but they also understood that the red-headed teenager had given them the duty of protecting their party members.
Because of this, they weren't able to leave Randolph, Grandma Annie, Laura, and Livia behind.
During that time, Grandma Annie had taken a golden mirror out from her storage ring, and used it to project what was happening on the battlefield.
Even though their Skeleton Cannonball landed a great distance away from where the battle was taking place, they were still able to see what was happening due to Grandma Annie's Pseudo-Legendary Artifact called Viewing Mirror.
It allowed Grandma Annie to see the current situation of people, and Creatures that she had deemed her allies, which made it possible for them to see what Lux and the others were doing.
When they saw the battle between ALL-MITE and the Crimson Berserker Mantis, the green-haired Half-Elf and the Dragon Born clenched their fists as they cheered for the four-armed Monster in their hearts.
Words couldn't express what the two of them were feeling at that moment, especially when ALL-MITE dealt the killing blow to the Monster that had terrorized everyone when it made its appearance on the battlefield.
Gerhart and Cethus knew that even if their entire party worked together, they would still be unable to beat the Deimos-Ranked World Boss like ALL-MITE did.
Suddenly, Eiko suddenly jumped off Grandma Annie's lap and landed on Lux's chest. The baby slime was looking intently at her Papa's face with great anticipation.
A moment later, Lux's eyebrows furrowed, which made Grandma Annie, Laura, and Livia finally breathe a sigh of relief.
"Pa!" Eiko said as she happily jumped up and down on Lux's chest, making the latter abruptly open his eyes.
"E-Eiko?" Lux drowsily looked at the excited Baby Slime, who had been feeling anxious the past few days.
"Un!" Eiko replied as she crawled towards Lux's cheek, giving it a kiss.
Lux smiled as he lightly patted the Baby Slime who was butting his cheek with her head, making Laura and Livia giggle.
"Did we win?" Lux asked as he shifted his attention to Grandma Annie, who had a smile on her face.
"We did," Grandma Annie replied. "It's all thanks to you and ALL-MITE."
Lux smiled and decided to sleep a little more because he was still feeling drowsy. He awoke three hours later when the sun was about to set, and talked to Asmodeus so he had a rough idea of what happened while he was passed out.
When Pietro finally decided to camp for the night, the Half-Elf gathered all of his Named Creatures to praise them for a job well done.
"Thank you everyone for doing your best," Lux said as he looked at his Named Creatures with a smile. "If it weren't for you guys, everyone might have died, including me."
Lux then shifted his attention to ALL-MITE who had played a crucial role in their survival. He had already seen the information of the newest member of his Covenant, and even he didn't believe what he saw at first.
Just like his Status Information said, ALL-MITE was indeed the strongest member of his covenant. He also had ten thousand more stat points than Lux, giving him the power of a Middle-Stage E-Ranker.
With this, Lux had gotten his very first Ranker in his ever-growing-army, and he was quite happy about it.
"Although the threat of the Insects has lessened considerably, we should never let our guard down," Lux stated. "We still have a few days to go until we reach the Town of Broughton, and I want everyone to remain vigilant until we accomplish our mission. Do I make myself clear?"
"""Yes!"""
All of Lux's Named Creatures gave a positive reply to their Master's orders. A few minutes later, they all returned to their guard duties, while Lux and Asmodeus had a strategic meeting.
"Master, I need a Deimos-Ranked Core to revive Ithaqua," Asmodeus said. "I'm sure that we will still need his expertise as we look for the Transcendent Flames in the Wanid Kingdom."
Lux nodded and didn't hesitate to hand over one of the Deimos Beast Cores in his collection to his Archlich in order to revive the Creature of the Cold White Silence.
He still had a little more than fifteen Deimos-Ranked Cores remaining, so he wasn't too stingy about giving Asmodeus that Beast Core he needed.
"Master, what do you plan to do with the Crimson Berserker Mantis?" Asmodeus asked. "Are you planning to revive it?"
Lux didn't answer right away but closed his eyes to ponder his next move. Truth be told, he didn't intend to revive the Crimson Berserker Mantis because he had other plans for it.
He wanted his Master, Randolph, to use its strong exoskeleton to craft a set of armor. Naturally, this would have to wait until they gained the Transcendent Flames to get a higher chance of getting a Pseudo-Legendary, or a Legendary Equipment
As for the Monster's Beast Core, the Half-Elf planned to use it for himself.
He planned to use the remaining cores he had to upgrade his special constitution, which was the Immortal Dragon Conqueror's Legacy, in order to get stronger.
The Half-Elf also deemed that it was about time for him to learn new skills that would increase his offensive and defensive abilities.
He had already planned to upgrade his Body Constitution before entering the last gate of the Sacred Dungeon in the Domain of the Fallen.
Also, he planned to give his Guild Members some of the Beast Cores that belonged to the Golden-Eyed Crimson Mantises.
Asmodeus knew how important these Beast Cores were, which was why he made sure to tell his allies to make sure that none of them escaped.
The Golden-Eyed Crimson Mantis had several great skills and the skill, Doppelganger, was one of them.
He believed that if his Master, Randolph, Grandma Annie, Laura, Livia, and Gerhart, were to gain this skill, the things they could do would greatly increase.
Just thinking of having three Transcendent Blacksmiths, and Three Transcendent Alchemists was enough for Lux to give the two old Dwarfs priority over the precious Beast Cores.
Although his Guild Buff allowed his members to gain a 100% chance to learn skills from Beast Cores, the skill that they would learn was still Random.
There was simply no way that they could be as lucky as Lux, so he intended to let them consume as many Beast Cores as possible until they gained the Doppelganger Ability, which would allow the two old Dwarves to excel in more ways than one.
